Reggae Boyz 1 - U20s 1

[Mosiah]

Yesterday, I watched the teams play an early morning scrimmage. The senior team had enough players to bring a new team on for the second half. The U20s did not have that luxury.

I think LA Reid scored for the U20s. Keammar scored a freekick for the seniors. Wasn't a great kick but the goalie flubbed it.

Anyway, all the players were on show. First team for the seniors had the likes of Maestro, Shavar, Lovel, Jason Morrison, Tuffy Anderson, Dicoy Williams, Lamar Nelson and others. Second team had Keammar, Omar Cummings, Ryan Johnson, Andrae Campbell, Bibi Gardner, Rohan Reid, and others.

Bibi looks decent for someone not playing competitive football, and so did Keammar, but only decent. Both looked a little slow, but at least they looked trim.

U20s looked good. They kept the ball and moved it around well. I thought Zhelano Barnes and LA Reid were good.

To be fair, the seniors had most of the ball but they did not look very penetrative unless a certain Maestro was on the field. Jermaine Hue is able to make forward passes look so easy, while others were passing the ball backwards or square.

For me, the local players looked at least as good as those who flew in. I know Stoni will not be impressed. His position is that these foreign-based players have learnt to deal with and have overcome adversity in all its different forms, and have become battle-hardened because of that. Those are the guys we need, with their steely resolve, commitment and temperament when we face the teams in the Hex.

Stoni, ever stopped to think what the local players are made of? One of the U20 ballas told me yesterday after the scrimmage that the night before, at around 10 PM, there was a shooting in his neighbourhood. Somebody had picked up 14 shots. Police came thru shortly after and searched his home among others. He explained to them he was a national footballer, flashing his accreditation badge from the recent tournament and showing them his football boots and gear. No, he is not a suspect, although one could say every 17 year old in that community is always a suspect.

Yes, I know some of our foreign ballers went thru some tough times here before having to take on new challenges abroad – snow, racism, homesickness, etc. But I will continue to try and look at the footballers purely for what they can give me on the field without too much consideration for what trials and tribulations brought them to where they are now.

What we need are some friendlies before the real thing starts. That is what will help me to decide who has a steely resolve and who doesn’t.

Trust me, many of the foreigners failed to distinguish themselves from the locals, including the U20s. Hue was the best player out there by far, thinking the game, making great passes, coming up into attack, shooting at goal. Morrison was busy. (I’m going to stick with those who did well, instead of those identifying those who did badly.) Thought Rohan Reid did well, providing support and making passes.

[Peter R]

where do they play these scrimmages ? are they open to the public ?

[Don1]

Stoni, ever stopped to think what the local players are made of? One of the U20 ballas told me yesterday after the scrimmage that the night before, at around 10 PM, there was a shooting in his neighbourhood. Somebody had picked up 14 shots

Literally steely resolve here. Copper too

[Stonigut]

First question, who was the gk?

Second thing is my father used to say you have county cricketers and you have test cricketers, I have one hell of a long list of guys who look real good locally or in scrimmage but when it come to the real thing where they playing under pressure whether long term or where they must adapt to their team and produce in a professional setup or they are playing in a pressure filled, intense situation like say Ja versus USA and we must get results they flop, then the condition has changed there is enormous expectation placed upon them and if you haven't truly committed to yourself and to your team and you just ah hustle it like Nesta would say then guess what, you can't produce under pressure when stakes are highest.

That is why it is not about one being necessarily better than another it is about being battle hardened. Listen this is just a ladder thing, you cannot get to the top of the ladder until you get to the top of the ladder, that mean say, you star locally, you get picked through the various youth national teams, maybe you get a shot at the national team, you get noticed, you get picked by a team that is serious about this ball thing, meaning they must make more money than they spend, so when they pick you that means they think you bring real value to their table. If you can't hack that then that means you don't have what it takes at that point mentally to be a contributor in the real world of money ball, thus at the top of our ladder is Omar Cummings, Austin, Morrison, Phillips, richards, Shelton, JT, all the man them that play at pro clubs, day in day out, when you climb that ladder then you can get first dibs if you really want it, coach have to also see the desire there.

That is the reason why we are so inconsistent, the ladder is a mess, there is no clear logical path to the top which should be rung by rung. We can't have guys skipping rungs without a clear sense of how they skipped rungs, for instance we know our program is not as strong as it should be for multiple reasons, we have an avenue to improve that in the short term, English ballers with Jakan roots, they get to skip rungs outside this process as they have already achieved much of what we desire, battle hardened, psychologically tested players that can execute to instruction Everytime have been trained in that disciplined manner for years, which is what we are looking for, thus a mcanuff a mariappa a nosworthy are on the same rung with Richards and Cummings and Austin, these guys are the elite forces of the national team, trained, hardened, know how to deliver under pressure.



On a one off day I bet there are many in the us army or even guys off the street that can look as good as the best marine or special forces on one day in a non pressure situation, but when the real thing comes do you think the regular us army guy can deliver in a special ops situation, he does not have the experience, same with this.

We see the same kind of thing in boxing all the time, sparring partners look like world beaters until they get a real match and they flop beyond belief, as in training they are giving the champion hell, look like world beaters but upon the real thing it does not translate to success.


Listen if surviving the worst communities was the key to success then millions of ghetto youth would be stars, the real deal is that success for ghetto youth in the worst communities is the worst of ladders to the top and at the top are the gems of hardened steel psychologically and many other ways ways whether they make it legally or illegally the result is very few make it to that pinnacle and those guys have a deep reservoir of skills shaped by that experience to get to the top that the flash in the pan one week bad guy does not understand the race is not for the swift but for those who endure!

[OJ]

Sorry mo not sure who the foreign players you are speaking of ..please elaborate.I would not call dicoy a foreign player. Who exactly are you calling foreign

[Mosiah]

First question, who was the gk?

Second thing is my father used to say you have county cricketers and you have test cricketers, I have one hell of a long list of guys who look real good locally or in scrimmage but when it come to the real thing where they playing under pressure whether long term or where they must adapt to their team and produce in a professional setup or they are playing in a pressure filled, intense situation like say Ja versus USA and we must get results they flop, then the condition has changed there is enormous expectation placed upon them and if you haven't truly committed to yourself and to your team and you just ah hustle it like Nesta would say then guess what, you can't produce under pressure when stakes are highest.

That is why it is not about one being necessarily better than another it is about being battle hardened. Listen this is just a ladder thing, you cannot get to the top of the ladder until you get to the top of the ladder, that mean say, you star locally, you get picked through the various youth national teams, maybe you get a shot at the national team, you get noticed, you get picked by a team that is serious about this ball thing, meaning they must make more money than they spend, so when they pick you that means they think you bring real value to their table. If you can't hack that then that means you don't have what it takes at that point mentally to be a contributor in the real world of money ball, thus at the top of our ladder is Omar Cummings, Austin, Morrison, Phillips, richards, Shelton, JT, all the man them that play at pro clubs, day in day out, when you climb that ladder then you can get first dibs if you really want it, coach have to also see the desire there.

That is the reason why we are so inconsistent, the ladder is a mess, there is no clear logical path to the top which should be rung by rung. We can't have guys skipping rungs without a clear sense of how they skipped rungs, for instance we know our program is not as strong as it should be for multiple reasons, we have an avenue to improve that in the short term, English ballers with Jakan roots, they get to skip rungs outside this process as they have already achieved much of what we desire, battle hardened, psychologically tested players that can execute to instruction Everytime have been trained in that disciplined manner for years, which is what we are looking for, thus a mcanuff a mariappa a nosworthy are on the same rung with Richards and Cummings and Austin, these guys are the elite forces of the national team, trained, hardened, know how to deliver under pressure.



On a one off day I bet there are many in the us army or even guys off the street that can look as good as the best marine or special forces on one day in a non pressure situation, but when thermal thing comes do you think the regular us army guy can deliver in a special ops situation, he does not have the experience, same with this.

We see the same kind of thing in boxing all the time, sparring partners look like world beaters until they get a real match and they flop beyond belief, as in training they are giving the champion hell, look like world beaters but upon the real thing it does not translate to success.


Listen if surviving the worst communities was the key to success then millions of ghetto youth would be stars, the real deal is that success for ghetto youth in the worst communities is the worst of ladders to the top and at the top are the gems of hardened steel psychologically and many other ways ways whether they make it legally or illegally the result is very few make it to that pinnacle and those guys have a deep reservoir of skills shaped by that experience to get to the top that the flash in the pan guy does not understand the race is not for the swift but for those who endure!

Then why bother with local players at all, and why not pick the team based on the level of the league in which you play?!? I mean, the foreign players look so average that if you were to pick players based on what they do in training, many of them would be left behind. Now if you can't look good against average opposition, then why am I going to trust you to do better against quality?!!? It makes no sense!!!

It's the same argument that is used against Maestro, that he is slow. In the RSPL, Maestro finds more time on his hands (and feet) than the ones we consider fast. But somehow we are concerned how he will do against faster competition, and are confident that the ones who can't manage slow will suddenly manage fast! Makes no sense!!!!

And clearly, Stoni, I'm not that simple. It is not just about living in the ghetto. It is about living there, staying out of trouble, dodging bullets to get to training on a hungry belly, training your asz off for two hours, then plan your route back home so as not to get shot then go to bed hungrier than how you left the house. Do you think these players have something about them that makes them want to succeed, that sets them apart from the "millions of ghetto youth would be stars"? You think Raheem Sterling could talk to that 17 year old youth I mentioned? Who do you think may be more battle-hardened?!?!

To get back to the first point - real professionals make their quality show every time and especially against average competition. These "battle hardened, psychologically tested players" need to step up and look as if all this tempering does indeed mean something.

[Mosiah]

The foreign players are those who have foreign contracts.

I have nothing against any of them trying out for the team, nothing whatsoever! I was simply trying to make the point that having a foreign contract does not suddenly mean that you are better than local players, or that you are more battle-hardened because you have to now deal with racism, snow and bad food. Our players have to deal with bullets, police and no food!

The only thing I would give these foreign-based ballas is that they may see more quality players than the local ones and should be able to respond better. However, this does not shine through when you see them at training! And you just have to wonder why!

[Mosiah]

This was at Stadium East and open to the public. Wouldn't say the public was invited, but if you heard about it, I don't think anyone would turn you away. Indeed, Bert Cameron was leading his charges on the track at the same time, and some swimmers were also doing their thing.

[Stonigut]

Local players are our stockpile of talent we need to figure how to get the cream of that crop, we looking for more Austin's and Cummings but better, they are there but we have to build them right is not no microwave business.

Don't mean to make light out of real situation but you know is just the reality of things. Sometimes what it takes to survive in the real hard scrabble world does not translate to surviving in a thriving institution based world, is a different set of skills, if you can master both like what we see some of our best local produced players do then that is the real gem.

I posted a thread on emotional intelligence sometime back and nobody touched it but it talks about some of these kind of skills necessary to interact and build relationships and mastering the human touch whereas ghetto survival have many elements of that kind of relationships but at the end of the day it is geared at a more primal level of survival that promotes turf protection, secrecy and non communication across certain lines, which can produce a high level of insularity in an individual when they come into contact with organizations that thrive on teamwork, openness and communication. Just my take no science to it!

[Me]

Playing against each other and performing in a league abroad against more tactically savvy opposition is two different thing. Adlam will look more dangerous for Portmore than Senior will for H View, but yet both will go to DC United on trial and Senior looks the better of the two by far.

Many of the foreign ballers (Dicoy, Lovell..) were not head and shoulders above their local counterparts when they got contracts and others have not been that good over the past two years in their leagues (Cummings, Shavar), so a lot of them will look no more than average.

[Assasin]

Mo more than likely if you have a foriegn based team vs a local base the the foriegn one will win most of the time. Can't really use a training match to judge them but of ofcourse there are some local one who can perform over some foreign based players, no doubt.

[Me]

What position was Bibi playing?

[Mosiah]

Ok. That is your opinion and u r entitled to it.

[Karl]

"Local players" looking good or bad to whom?
Someone who (or a technical team which) has what it takes to recognise the talent that shall cope with higher level play?

The truth is to some judges of talent quality players will be overlooked and no half as good players chosen.

I can remember one of the best natural schoolboy strikers being overlooked because it was said he was too big and strong - clumsy - it was called. The boy was as agile as they come and deadly in front of goal. He was big and smaller boys bounced off him and although he did nothing outside to fall foul of the Laws of the Game he was often being called for fouls.

--- We also in the past throw out technical players who made most of passes one-time passes. The refrain on or about such players 'im caan play ball'...'im cannot beat a player'. Both false as the player(s) would 'beat' players by passing the ball (go around using 'im fren'/teammate), could push the ball around a player and outrun same to the ball or when absolutely forced 'beat' a player 'one-on-one'.

Point is if those sourcing talent have extremely limited knowledge on 'what makes a good player' then it is likely that the 'a clock is right at least twice a day' hit and miss situation as it regards sourcing best talents will be the result!

[World Fan]

The word 'just'

appears to have been have been omitted

For me, the local players looked at least as good as those who(just?) flew in

Might need a little more time getting reacquainted playing on the less than professional local pitches, as well as overcoming jet lag, maybe?